


Pride

by pocketmumbles (livelikejack)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Everyone Is Alive, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2018-02-22 12:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2508602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livelikejack/pseuds/pocketmumbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“No, see, what I mean is he’s ace, just like you! See…” Erica pulls up a quick Google Image search. “Those are the colors of the asexual flag!”</p><p>“Oh.” Boyd’s familiar with the asexual flag. He’s quietly scrolled through AVEN’s boards and looked up everything he could about every sexuality, just to learn more. But he’s never seen it laid out in front of him like this, in art, in clothing, in something…someone…that could look like him. “Oh.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pride

**Author's Note:**

> Okay that is the lamest title ever _I am sorry I tried_. For [henrymaarchbanks](http://henrymaarchbanks.tumblr.com/), who wanted to hear about ace Boyd.
> 
> Set in an unapologetic near-future AU where everyone is alive. [This is the art](http://hdaggdraws.tumblr.com/post/87714569117/this-was-going-to-be-part-of-a-series-highlighting) referenced in the fic, and you should click it and look at it and send the artist some love because it's amazing.

“Boyd!”

Boyd looks up as Erica runs into Derek’s loft. She tosses her backpack onto the couch and quickly rifles through it, pulling out her laptop as she skids onto the floor next to him. “Boyd, you gotta look at this!”

He waits patiently for the page to load, and blinks in confusion when he sees the drawing. “I don’t get it.”

“It’s you!”

He raises an eyebrow. “I’ve never worn suspenders in my life. Or purple stripes.”

“Believe me, you could pull them off,” Erica says.

“Which one?”

“Both.” She scrolls down to the description box, tucking her hair behind her ear. “No, see, what I mean is he’s ace, just like you! See…” She pulls up a quick Google Image search. “Those are the colors of the asexual flag!”

“Oh.” Boyd’s familiar with the asexual flag. He’s quietly scrolled through AVEN’s boards and looked up everything he could about every sexuality, just to learn more. But he’s never seen it laid out in front of him like this, in art, in clothing, in something…someone…that could look like him. “Oh.”

Erica grins, headbutting his shoulder lightly. “See? It’s you.”

He doesn’t do something as stupid as run his finger along the image, because he can’t stand when people smudge their fingerprints over computer screens. His hand clenches a little, though. He wants to. “Where’d you find this?” he asks.

“Me and Isaac were looking up sexuality flags,” Erica says. “We’re gonna paint t-shirts for Beacon Pride next month.” She hesitates, biting her lip before leaning closer. “I was kind of thinking maybe we could paint a shirt for you, too,” she says carefully. She points at the screen, jabbing her finger right into the gray stripe across the character’s chest. “Like this one. But only if you wanted,” she adds quickly.

He stares at the image for a long moment. “I don’t know,” he says finally. He’s not ashamed of being ace, he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks about him. Everyone who matters to him knows and understands – Derek had been surprisingly knowledgeable about asexuality, when Boyd had talked to him.

It’s not that he’s _afraid_ to wear the flag on his shirt – he’s a werewolf, he’s been through hell, it’d take a lot more than that to scare him – it’s more that…he doesn’t really see why he’d want to. He’s never advertised himself to the world – Derek approached him for the bite, Coach approached him for lacrosse…even Erica approached him to take her out on their first official date.

She nods at him understandingly now. “Don’t worry about,” she says, squeezing his hand tight and leaning easily onto his shoulder. She jerks upright again almost immediately, tugging the laptop towards her. “Oh, I gotta show you this video of a cat jumping out a window, it’s hilarious!”

And that’s the last she ever talks to him about it. Boyd forgets about it for a week, two weeks, until he shows up at Derek’s loft to work with Danny on their lab report and finds him standing patiently in the middle of the room while Isaac and Allison mark careful lines across his white shorts. “Sorry,” he calls, turning to the door before Allison jerks him back to his previous stance with a growl. “We’ll be done in a sec.”

“Take your time,” Boyd says, spreading his notes next to Danny’s on the table. “The lab report won’t take long, anyway.”

“Are you kidding me?” Isaac says as he marks off the purple line along the bottom corner of one leg. “That thing took me forever.”

“Yeah, but unlike you, we’re actually good at physics,” Danny says. Isaac glares at him before painting a long swipe down the length of his arm. “Hey!”

Danny changes into his regular clothes a few minutes later and drops onto the couch next to Boyd. “I already wrote up the results section in class,” he says, “so we really just have to do the conclusion and we’re done.”

“I got started on it,” Boyd says. He can’t stop staring at the purple stripe on Danny’s arm, though, wondering what it’d look like layered with white and gray and black. Danny picks at the paint distractedly while they finish their lab report, and some of it flakes onto Boyd. He likes the way it looks against his skin, sprinkled across the back of his hand like an affirmation.

He looks down at it again after Danny drives him back to his house, feeling something settle inside him. It’s comforting, for some reason. He digs through his desk, drawing lines above the largest flake in Wite-Out and silver Sharpie. He holds his hand up next to his face in the mirror, tilting his head at the makeshift flag. “Huh.”

He walks into the loft a few days later to find Erica trying not to giggle while Isaac traces a thin purple stripe along the waist of her white strapless minidress. “Erica, if you don’t stop laughing, this line is going to be so crooked,” Isaac huffs.

“It tickles!” Erica says. She lifts her arm to wave at Boyd, but Isaac snatches it back down. “Hi, Boyd!” Isaac wiggles a finger absently over his shoulder, tongue sticking out in concentration as he traces a line across Erica’s back.

Derek shuts the oven door before straightening into view from the kitchen, nodding a greeting at Boyd. “You’re a little early for dinner.”

“Well, I was wondering,” Boyd says as he drops his backpack next to theirs by the couch. Scott’ll be here any minute now – he always shows up early to help with dinner – but Boyd still has some time before everyone else shows up. “Do you guys have an extra white t-shirt I could paint?”

Erica beams. Isaac grabs her hips immediately. “Don’t move,” he warns. “I’m not done, yet.” He grins at Boyd, though. “Got one just your size with your name on it.”

“Literally,” Derek adds from the kitchen. “You’ll be painting over it, but they wrote your name on it ages ago.”

“ _Derek_ ,” Erica hisses. She glances at Boyd sheepishly. “I wasn’t assuming or anything,” she says. “But just in case, I wanted there to be one for you.”

He squeezes her hand. “Thanks.”

“Can we get you purple pants?” Isaac asks, right as Scott opens the door.

“Maybe,” Boyd says with a sigh. He knows that already means yes, and the matching grins Isaac and Erica send each other confirm it.

Scott grins right along with them, though. “And purple suspenders?” he adds.

Boyd tilts his head, narrowing his eyes. “Stiles showed you the picture, didn’t he.”

“Liam, actually,” Scott says, taking the plates that Derek automatically holds out for him. “He was really excited about it, too. I think it meant a lot to him to see, especially since it kind of looked like someone he actually knew.”

“Oh,” Boyd says, blinking in thought. Erica hip-checks him lightly with a smile. “You think I could pull off purple suspenders?”

Scott almost knocks over the table as he runs over to hug him.

 

A lot of people stare at them at Beacon Pride. Danny’s rainbow shorts are actually the _least_ eye-catching of the group, for all that he doesn’t wear anything else but the beaded necklaces parade marchers keep handing him. (He passes them along to the rest of the group, and they’re all decorated in various colors after an hour. Mason blushes when Danny gives him the one multicolored necklace of the group.)

No, what draws more stares is Erica’s dress, a pink top and deep blue skirt blending together into purple at her waist. Isaac’s brighter pink and blue sleeves with yellow running down his middle draw even more stares. And Boyd’s striped shirt draws the most stares of all. “It’s the suspenders,” Liam says, grinning up at Boyd as another group of teenagers leave after taking pictures with him. “Not everyone can pull them off, but you do really well.”

“They _are_ very purple,” Boyd says, hooking his thumbs under them and tugging them out a little. He smiles down at Liam. “You gonna do this next year?”

“I can’t pull off purple suspenders,” Liam says with a laugh. “And I _definitely_ can’t pull off purple pants.” It’s not really what Boyd meant, though, and they both know it. Liam glances over at Mason, who laughs as Kira secures a cardboard rainbow crown around his head, then down at his own plain white shirt. “Maybe,” he says, quieter.

Boyd doesn’t really know what it’s like to doubt himself. He’s always known who he was, always been comfortable with himself and his wants. He never doubted being a human, he never doubted becoming a werewolf, and he never doubted being asexual. He doesn’t really understand what it’s like to be uncertain, not about his own identity. “As long as you’re content with yourself,” he says, reaching out to pat Liam’s shoulder. “That’s all that really matters.”

Liam quirks the corner of his mouth. “Thanks.”

Erica skips up to them, throwing her arms over their shoulders. “We’re gonna go follow the parade down to City Hall,” she says. “You coming with us?”

Mason tugs Liam away on her other side, showing off his AVEN wristband and sliding another onto Liam’s wrist. Boyd winds his hand around Erica’s and squeezes tight. “Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> Danny wears rainbow shorts and Mason has a rainbow crown as per the homosexuality flag; Erica's dress is painted in the colors and proportions of the bisexuality flag; Isaac's long-sleeved shirt is the pansexuality flag hanging sideways. And Boyd is basically cosplaying [this artwork](http://hdaggdraws.tumblr.com/post/87714569117/this-was-going-to-be-part-of-a-series-highlighting).
> 
> In this fic, Liam is also on the ace spectrum! He's not really sure where he falls, yet, though, he's still figuring stuff out.


End file.
